Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

ST. LOUIS,
MISSOURI--The producers of Donald Trump's NBC television show "The Apprentice"
have agreed to add language to their on-line contestant application process
encouraging people with disabilities to apply, according to a lawyer who sued
the program for discrimination.

Attorney James Schottel Jr., who has used a wheelchair since a 1991 head
injury, said Wednesday that he dropped his suit after Mark Burnett Productions,
Inc. added the sentence, "All applicants who believe they meet our criteria,
including persons with disabilities, are welcome and encouraged to apply to be
a participant", to the show's rules.

Schottel sued the company last month alleging that the application
rules, which required contestants to be in good mental health and "meet all
physical and psychological requirements", discriminated against him and other
would-be contestants with disabilities.

"My interpretation of that was that I was excluded," Schottel told the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Neither Trump Productions LLC nor Mark Burnett Productions admitted any
liability, said Schottel, who added that he did not seek any compensation in
the deal.

"I think that's satisfactory," Schottel said of the settlement. "I'm
still a fan of the show, and I was pleased that the online application is going
to be modified and that they have shown they have a commitment to consider
people with disabilities. That was my goal from the beginning."

Mr. Burnett said in a statement: "It was never our intent to exclude
from consideration persons with disabilities."

"Even before we learned of this lawsuit, our staff in New York had
already interviewed three persons in wheelchairs," Burnett said. "We continue
to urge all potential participants, including those with disabilities, who are
interested to apply for the show."

In 2000, Florida disability rights advocates sued ABC-TV claiming the
contestant application process for the game show "Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire" discriminated against people who are deaf or hard of hearing or
who have certain physical disabilities. The producers were using a call-in
system requiring would-be contestants to answer questions by quickly tapping
responses on touch-tone phone buttons.

That suit made its way to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in June
2002 before the producers agreed to settle the case out of court.

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.